June 27, 2008 - New York Times
Siamese twin galaxies. Ninety million light-years away from us, these two, almost identical spiral galaxies, NGC5427, left, and NGC 5426, look like they're doing a do-si-do in the Virgo constellation. The image was taken by the Gemini South telescope in Chile. Although they look like they're just passing by each other, the gravitational tugging has already begun to reshape the two galaxies and set off a wave of star formation. In about 100 million years, the two will merge into one elliptical galaxy.
(Editor's Note: A previous version of this slide show referred incorrectly to the position of the galaxies. They are 90 million light-years away from us, not 90 million light-years apart.)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
June 22, 2008
June 27, 2008 - MSNBC
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For a different kind of celestial crack-up, check out the Gemini Observatory's picture of a collision between two nearly identical spiral galaxies in the constellation Virgo, 90 million light-years from Earth. Astronomers have charted the gravitational interaction between NGC 5426 and NGC 5427, and say the galactic dance may serve as a preview of our own Milky Way galaxy's encounter with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy billions of years from now.
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For a different kind of celestial crack-up, check out the Gemini Observatory's picture of a collision between two nearly identical spiral galaxies in the constellation Virgo, 90 million light-years from Earth. Astronomers have charted the gravitational interaction between NGC 5426 and NGC 5427, and say the galactic dance may serve as a preview of our own Milky Way galaxy's encounter with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy billions of years from now.
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Siamese Twin Galaxies In A Gravitational Embrace
June 22, 2008 - ScienceDaily
In what appears to be a masterful illusion, astronomers at Gemini Observatory have imaged two nearly identical spiral galaxies in Virgo, 90 million light years distant, in the early stages of a gentle gravitational embrace.
The new image was obtained at the Gemini South telescope in Chile using GMOS, the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph.
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